JERUSALEM, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- A new Israeli-Dutch study has found that online review ratings given by women are on average higher and more favorable than those by men, Israel's Ben Gurion University (BGU) said in a statement on Monday.
The study, jointly carried out by BGU, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and Erasmus University Rotterdam in the Netherlands, and published by the science journal Nature, was based on 1.2 billion reviews across five leading online review platforms and two lab experiments.
The observations revealed that women's average ratings are higher than men's by about 0.1 stars on a 5-point scale, while the lab experiments found that when dissatisfied, women are less likely than men to post a review.
The gender rating gap exists across many contexts, platforms, and geographies, suggesting it is a pervasive issue in online review culture, showed the study, which said it is possibly due to women's greater concern about social consequences and societal pressures to avoid backlash.
The findings highlight the need for societal change to create conditions for people, particularly women, to feel comfortable publicly expressing their genuine attitudes, especially in cases of dissatisfaction, without being concerned about the consequences.
They also have significant implications for consumers, businesses, online platforms, and society at large, as the gap may distort perceptions of products and services, affect businesses, and lead to misinformed consumer choices.
